SANTA ANITA : Big ‘Cap Will Be an Inside Job for Best Pal After Draw for Post

The No. 1 post position, the worst starting spot in the 55 previous runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap, went to favored Best Pal when 11 horses were entered Thursday for Saturday’s $1-million race.

If Best Pal is to become only the second double winner of the Big ‘Cap, matching the performances by John Henry in 1981-82, he will have to do it from a post which has produced only one winner. Mr. Right, a 5-year-old owned by the wife of pianist Peter Duchin, broke from the inside in a 15-horse field in 1968 and won at 19-1 on an off track.

Normally, the post position in a 1 1/4-mile race shouldn’t matter to a horse with Best Pal’s versatility, but the 5-year-old gelding has never cared to have dirt kicked in his face, and his jockey, Kent Desormeaux, expressed concern at Thursday’s draw.

“The draw isn’t the best,” Desormeaux said. “It’s a bad spot. From where we are, the others will be able to keep a keen eye on us. Hopefully, we’ll overcome it.”

Trainer Gary Jones was less worried.

“The post is OK,” said Jones, who is more concerned about Best Pal’s possible lack of seasoning and giving seven pounds to Jovial, whom Jones says is the biggest threat.

“If the post isn’t OK, it means I’ve got the wrong horse or the wrong jockey,” Jones said.

Best Pal’s only race in the last nine months was a second-place finish behind Jovial in the San Pasqual Handicap on Jan. 24. The Santa Anita stewards disqualified Best Pal for interference, moving him back to fifth place.

Best Pal, who won from the No. 4 post a year ago, has drawn No. 1 in only one of his 24 starts. He and jockey Pat Valenzuela were on the inside when they lost by a neck, at 9-10 odds, to Compelling Sound in the Silver Screen Handicap at Hollywood Park in June of 1991.

The Silver Screen was also significant because it was the last race Best Pal ran for trainer Ian Jory. The horse’s owners and breeders, John and Betty Mabee, frustrated that Best Pal was beaten in five consecutive starts, sent him to the veteran Jones a few days after the race. Under Jones, Best Pal has six victories and two seconds in 11 starts and has increased his purse total to $3.8 million.

Best Pal, who went off the 17-10 favorite in the Big ‘Cap a year ago, has been installed as this year’s 8-5 favorite by Jeff Tufts, the Santa Anita line maker. The entry of Bertrando and Marquetry, trained by Bobby Frankel, is next at 5-2 and Jovial is 3-1.

Here is the field, with jockeys, weights and odds, in order of post position:

Best Pal, Kent Desormeaux, 124 pounds, 8-5; Sir Beaufort, Pat Valenzuela, 119, 12-1; Reign Road, David Flores, 115, 8-1; Bertrando, Chris McCarron, 120, 5-2; El Trenzador, Corey Nakatani, 112, 30-1; Tel Quel, Alex Solis, 116, 30-1; Jovial, Mickey Walls, 117, 3-1; Major Impact, Gary Stevens, 114, 15-1; Marquetry, Eddie Delahoussaye, 118, 5-2; Star Recruit, Laffit Pincay, 115, 30-1; and June’s Reward, Corey Black, 112, 30-1.

Sir Beaufort and Tel Quel, who has run only once on dirt, are trained by Charlie Whittingham. They are not coupled in the betting because of different owners. The owners of Jovial, having not nominated their horse, made the San Pasqual Handicap winner eligible by paying a $25,000 supplement. First place in the Big ‘Cap is worth $550,000.

Three of Bertrando’s four stakes victories have been at Santa Anita, but none at the Big ‘Cap distance. The only time the 4-year-old has been tried at 1 1/4 miles, he was run down by Siberian Summer in the stretch of the Strub Stakes on Feb. 7.

Bertrando has led in all nine of his races, and it will be jockey Chris McCarron’s job to keep him out front for the last quarter of a mile.

“They’re going to have to catch us,” McCarron said. “I think we have an excellent chance. I know my horse got tired in the Strub, but I’ve ridden many horses who have run like that and then improved in their next race. If Bertrando had been training badly since then, I would say that the Strub took something out of him. But that hasn’t been the case.”

Both Bertrando and Best Pal came off long layoffs to resume their careers this winter at Santa Anita. Bertrando, who got sick just before last year’s Kentucky Derby, didn’t run again until Dec. 26. He has had a third in the Malibu, a nine-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile San Fernando and the second in the Strub.

Jovial’s owners, trainer Bruce Jackson and John Swift, were trying to sell the 6-year-old before he revived an erratic career with a 2 3/4-length victory in the San Pasqual.

“I could have taken the money and run,” said Jackson, who failed to win the Big ‘Cap twice with In Excess in 1991-92. “Now I’m glad I didn’t. The beautiful thing about this horse is that besides training him, I own (75%) of him.”

Jovial missed the San Antonio Handicap because of a cough, and Marquetry won the race by a head over Sir Beaufort. Jones and Jackson regard Jovial as a genuine 1 1/4-mile horse.

“He won the Swaps at Hollywood Park at that distance as a 3-year-old,” Jackson said.

Horse Racing Notes

Trainer Charlie Whittingham has won a record eight Santa Anita Handicaps and has started 62 horses. . . . Post time for Saturday’s first race is 12:15 p.m., with the post for the Santa Anita Handicap, the fifth race, about 2:45 because of national television. . . . There are also two $100,000 stakes on the card. The Arcadia Handicap, at a mile on grass, drew 14 horses, including the entry of Luthier Enchanteur and Val Des Bois. Others running are Barraq, The Name’s Jimmy, Regal Groom, River of Light, Qathif, Blacksburg, Portoferraio, Bourgogne, Cork, Free At Last, Leger Cat and Repriced. Val Des Bois is the high weight at 118 pounds.

In the Las Flores Breeders’ Cup Handicap, at six furlongs for fillies and mares, Bountiful Native is the high weight at 121 pounds, two more than Freedom Cry. Others running are Snow Forest, She’s A Sure Bet, Lotta Glory Beau’s and Forest Fealty, who won the race last year. . . . Honor The Hero, a 5-year-old gelding running today at Santa Anita, tied the world record for six furlongs in his last start when he won the $100,000 Phoenix Gold Cup in 1:06 4/5 at Turf Paradise. The record was set by Zany Tactics at the Phoenix track in 1987.

The complete field for the Santa Anita Handicap, with weights, riders and morning-line odds, in post position order:

POST, HORSE WT. JOCKEY ODDS 1. Best Pal 124 Desormeaux 8-5 2. Sir Beaufort 119 Valenzuela 12-1 3. Reign Road 115 Flores 8-1 4. a-Bertrando 120 McCarron 5-2 5. El Trenzador 112 Nakatani 30-1 6. Tel Quel 116 Solis 30-1 7. Jovial 117 Walls 3-1 8. Major Impact 114 Stevens 15-1 9. a-Marquetry 118 Delahoussaye 5-2 10. Star Recruit 115 Pincay 30-1 11. June’s Reward 112 Black 30-1

a-coupled in betting.